Kecleon/ORAS
Kecleon can be found in the wild on Routes 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, and 123. On Route 120 and in Lavaridge Town, Fortree City and Mossdeep City, a Kecleon can be identified and battled through the Devon Scope. In Lavaridge Town, it will only appear after the version mascot has been captured or defeated; in Mossdeep City, it will only appear in the postgame, during the Delta Episode. Karma, karma, karma, karma, karma chameleon! Kecleon is one of a kind. It has a unique ability, and also a Hidden Ability that it only shares with one other Pokémon, Greninja, which however is sadly unavailable until the postgame. Its stat spread is also very unusual: while it hits physically, it tanks specially, and is actually very good at doing both, the latter even more so. Kecleon's movepool is fantastic in this generation, thanks to the TM upgrade and no longer needing to fight with other teammates for important moves such as Brick Break; the addition of Shadow Claw makes up for near-perfect coverage as well. Kecleon is also fairly usable on the special side, in some situations and with the right moves; any DexNav Kecleon with Nasty Plot does well in this department, as it can achieve remarkable damage after just one use. All in all, while being available only in the fairly late game, Kecleon is a great Pokémon to have and hard to kill, if not impossible, with special hits. Important Matchups * Gym #6 - Winona (Fortree City, Flying-type): Kecleon can get past Swellow with Trick Room and then 2-3HKOing with Return, depending on whether Kecleon's typing is changed or not; it is better to use Power-Up Punch after Trick Room in any case, which makes STAB Return an OHKO and non-STAB Return a 2HKO. Pelipper is averagely 2-3HKOed at +1 if Return lost its STAB; in that case, using Power-Up Punch again is recommended, whereas if Kecleon's type is still Normal it can simply 2HKO at +1. Skarmory can be 2-3HKOed with Thunderbolt; Kecleon's Color Change is an asset against it, since it helps it take less damage every other turn if Skarmory uses Steel Wing. Kecleon cannot fight against Altaria, since its Dragon Breath would be super effective starting from the second turn, severely outdamaging Kecleon's moves. * Courtney/Matt (Mt. Pyre): Kecleon must not approach Camerupt; Rock Slide and Earth Power, used in succession, will deal super effective damage every other turn due to Color Change, and Camerupt's Curse can quickly render Kecleon's Return powerless. Sharpedo is 2HKOed by Thunderbolt instead. * Rival (Lilycove City): Swellow can be 2-3HKOed with Return, depending on whether Color Change activates or not; it is recommended to use Trick Room on the first turn, in any case. Swellow may also spam Double Team, which makes it harder to hit unless Kecleon knows Aerial Ace or Feint Attack. Breloom can be weakened with Shadow Ball and then KOed with Aerial Ace, but only if Kecleon's typing has been changed, possibly to Flying; Normal-type Kecleon would lose, and the Shadow Ball turn is necessary in the beginning since Breloom also knows Counter, and Aerial Ace fails to OHKO. It is advised to have a stronger Pokémon fight Wailord; its Water Spout remains powerful against Kecleon, which can at best 3HKO with STAB Return. Magcargo is 2HKOed by Dig. All of the starters are threatening for Kecleon: Sceptile and Swampert can hit for super effective damage starting at the second turn, while Blaziken's Bulk Up and Blaze Kick is frightening even after the Fire resistance is acquired. * Courtney/Matt (Lilycove Hideout): Camerupt outpowers Kecleon with Curse and Rock Slide, while Sharpedo can be 2HKOed with Thunderbolt. * Gym #7 - Tate and Liza (Mossdeep City, Psychic-type): Kecleon has a good, albeit dicey, matchup against this gym. Shadow Claw 3HKOs Solrock and 2-3HKOs Lunatone; Kecleon is, however, also 3HKOed by Solrock's Rock Slide. Since Lunatone's only offensive move is Psychic, Kecleon should focus on defeating Solrock first, unless it is battling with a Pokémon that is very vulnerable to Lunatone: after the first Psychic, Kecleon will take little damage from Lunatone, even in the event that it keeps using Calm Mind. If Solrock is taken down in two turns, Kecleon can then beat Lunatone easily. * Maxie/Archie (Seafloor Cavern): Kecleon 2HKOs Mightyena easily with a combination of Power-Up Punch and Return; Mightyena's only damaging move is Normal-typed, so there is no risk of Kecleon losing its STAB. If Kecleon also manages to use Trick Room before beating Mightyena, it can 2HKO Crobat with Return and take an Acrobatics from it; it can also 2HKO Muk with Dig, after enduring a Gunk Shot, but Weezing is likely to use Sludge Bomb and then Explosion due to Kecleon's ability, and should preferably be avoided as the combination knocks out Kecleon easily. Kecleon should also avoid Mega Camerupt, whose Curse is even more threatening than before especially since Kecleon's best weapon is the two-turn Dig, as well as Mega Sharpedo, which can almost flat out OHKO with Crunch. * Primal Groudon (Cave of Origin, Omega Ruby only): No. Precipice Blades OHKOs Kecleon. * Primal Kyogre (Cave of Origin, Alpha Sapphire only): No. Origin Pulse is nearly certain to OHKO Kecleon. * Gym #8 - Wallace (Sootopolis City, Water-type): Kecleon may solo Wallace's team, but the setup is not too easy. It needs Hone Claws instead of Power-Up Punch, which would eventually KO Luvdisc, and a +6 is necessary to OHKO all of his team with Return, Milotic included, even if its STAB is lost; in addition, Kecleon needs an active Trick Room to work, which must be renewed exactly the turn before Luvdisc is KOed in order to last the whole battle. Trick Room may, of course, also be used during setups, so Kecleon will find it easier to break through Sweet Kiss-induced confusion. * Wally (Victory Road): Altaria can only be 2HKOed with Ice Beam, as it would hit with super effective Dragon Pulse if left on the battlefield any longer. Delcatty can be 3HKOed with Power-Up Punch, but does not otherwise offer setup opportunities to Kecleon, since its Hone Claws would quickly be outpaced by Charm; the move may also make the fight longer, though Delcatty's Feint Attack and Disarming Voice are weak enough that it will not be a problem. Roselia is 2HKOed by Return even without STAB, but once again does not offer good opportunities for Hone Claws or Power-Up Punch, due to its Toxic and Leech Seed, while Magneton is 2HKOed by Power-Up Punch and Dig or by two Digs. Mega Gallade must be avoided at all costs, as it will OHKO with Close Combat with or without the Fighting weakness. * Elite Four Sidney (Ever Grande City, Dark-type): Mightyena is averagely 3HKOed by Power-Up Punch, leaving Kecleon at +2 after Intimidate, which is perfect to ensure the OHKO against the rest of Sidney's team with Brick Break. Kecleon must, however, use Trick Room before KOing, so that it may hit first; Mightyena's Swagger is also an issue, and Kecleon must be kept healed from confusion at all times. For this reason, Trick Room must be used first: if Kecleon goes second, Swagger can creep up on it. If Kecleon manages to carry out the setup, it must then only be wary of Shiftry's Fake Out (up to 15% in damage) and Sharpedo's Aqua Jet (up to 25%), as well as Cacturne's Spiky Shield, though indirectly. Trick Room is unlikely to last long enough for Kecleon to beat all of Sidney's Pokémon, so a backup should be ready for the remainder of them, should Kecleon's power fall short. * Elite Four Phoebe (Ever Grande City, Ghost-type): Shadow Claw is a 2-3HKO against Dusclops, which is likely to use Curse; if this happens, Kecleon must be switched out to avoid the per-turn damage. Kecleon should also not take the Future Sight hit if Dusclops goes with Future Sight instead, as it will be crippled by gaining a Ghost weakness afterwards. Realistically, Kecleon can also 2HKO the two Banette with Shadow Claw but nothing more; Sableye's Foul Play borders on the 2HKO range, while Dusknoir can juggle the elemental punches to hit for super effective damage. If Kecleon is fully healthy, Shadow Claw can 3HKO either Sableye or Dusknoir and leave it with enough HP to survive their hits, though it will not be able to fight both Pokémon in succession. * Elite Four Glacia (Ever Grande City, Ice-type): Kecleon must set up with Hone Claws rather than Power-Up Punch, which would KO Glalie prematurely. At +4 in Attack, the two Glalie and Walrein are OHKOed by Brick Break, while the two Froslass are OHKOed by Shadow Claw. Kecleon may manage the setup without healing, since Glalie's only available moves are the relatively weak Crunch and Ice Shard, but it should nevertheless be healed if Crunch causes Defense drops or if its health is low, as Ice Shard has priority. After the Hone Claws setup is over, Kecleon should use Trick Room before proceeding with the sweep, to avoid taking further damage. * Elite Four Drake (Ever Grande City, Dragon-type): All of Drake's Pokémon have Dragon moves, which become super effective as soon as Kecleon acquires the Dragon-type; therefore, they make it impossible for Kecleon to set up. It may 2HKO Altaria with Ice Beam, but having Kecleon battle against any other Pokémon on Drake's team is highly likely to result in its death. * Champion Steven (Ever Grande City, Steel-type): Skarmory offers Kecleon room to set up with Hone Claws or Power-Up Punch, though how much room Kecleon gets depends on whether Skarmory alternates Steel Wing and Aerial Ace or sticks to Steel Wing. If Kecleon manages a +6 in Attack, it can 2HKO Skarmory with Brick Break and OHKO Claydol with Shadow Claw, though unless Kecleon also used Trick Room beforehand, it will need to take a potentially super effective Earth Power from Claydol first, which deals up to about 50% in damage. Although Aggron would also be OHKOed easily by Brick Break, it has Sturdy, and a combination of Stone Edge and Iron Tail easily gets the best of Kecleon; Trick Room may or may not help, since Aggron's base Speed is only slightly higher and a Kecleon with Speed investment and/or a Speed-boosting nature may actually be faster than Aggron, which is therefore not recommended to fight. Cradily's base Speed is also very close to Kecleon's, even more so than Aggron's; although it is OHKOed by Brick Break at +6, this can be done only if Trick Room expires or is not used, and under any other circumstance Cradily will repeatedly hit Kecleon with super effective moves by alternating Ancient Power, Giga Drain and Sludge Bomb. Armaldo and Mega Metagross are impossible; the former cannot be OHKOed but deals massive damage with Rock Blast, while the latter has higher chances of OHKOing with Giga Impact without boosts than Kecleon does with Shadow Claw at +6 in Attack. * Post-Game: Kecleon may be good at taking Psycho Boost from Deoxys after Color Change activates, but will do poorly against Mega Rayquaza. For the evil team fights, the matchups will instead be similar to the previous ones. Moves At its earliest possible capture level, Kecleon's moveset consists of Feint Attack, Psybeam, Ancient Power and Slash. Through the Move Reminder, it also gets access to two somewhat noteworthy moves: Synchronoise, which may be good for training as Kecleon is likely to move last and acquire the enemy's typing through Color Change, and Shadow Sneak, a nice priority Ghost move which goes well with Kecleon's slowness. However, these moves have a fairly low base power or are largely situational, so they will be trumped soon by their more powerful alternatives. Kecleon learns Camouflage at level 30, but is highly unlikely to use it proficiently due to its low base Speed and ability. Shadow Claw comes at 33, and is a really good coverage move, which should be taught if the TM has not yet been obtained. Screech comes at 38, though it is preferable to boost Kecleon's Attack rather than lower the enemy Defense, thus Power-Up Punch is better than Screech; Substitute, at 42, may be good for defensive Kecleon, though Color Change makes it gambly as far as its longevity goes. Sucker Punch is accessible at level 46 and, once again, very good for predictors, though not so much against Pokémon with more than one status move. Lastly, Synchronoise can be learned again at level 50. Kecleon's TM movepool is huge. Shadow Claw can be learned by TM early and provides good coverage, while Strength or Return upgrade the damage output of Slash. Power-Up Punch gives an Attack-boosting option, which is really nice with Kecleon's excellent special bulk, though the setup will normally only work against special sweepers; even then, Kecleon's Speed is an issue if and when a physical hitter comes to the battlefield, unless the Trick Room TM has already been obtained. Brick Break works well in place of Power-Up Punch, or alongside it. It should also be noted that Fighting and Ghost provide near-perfect coverage when put together, and Kecleon has access to moves of both types. Even more coverage is given by Dig and Rock Slide, though Dig must only be used against enemies that do not set up and the Rock Slide TM is a late game one. While Kecleon's Special Attack is low, it can still use Ice Beam well to get rid of the pesky Dragon/Flying-types. Modest Kecleon will likely be usable on the special side as well, and thus want to learn Thunderbolt and Flamethrower as well as Grass Knot. Trick Room is a must have on almost any set, as it removes Kecleon's Speed issues for five turns - hopefully long enough to sweep - and it also goes fantastically with stat boosters such as Power-Up Punch. Toxic will also wear down the HP of sturdy enemies slowly but steadily and, last but not least, Swagger helps against special sweepers, particularly paired with Thunder Wave, another good utility move. If running Thunder Wave, Substitute may actually be a good option to have. DexNav Kecleon have access to other interesting options, such as Fake Out for initial chip damage, Foul Play against enemies with high Attack and potentially low or lower Defense which will even outclass Sucker Punch on many levels, and Nasty Plot for those who prefer to run special sets, as one boost is enough to more than surpass Kecleon's physical Attack. Defensive sets can rely on support moves such as Recover and Trick, and even Skill Swap for more strategic play. Recommended movesets: ''Physical: Trick Room, Power-Up Punch, Shadow Claw / Sucker Punch, Return'' ''Special (Nasty Plot users only): Nasty Plot, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball'' ''Stall (Recover users only): Toxic, Substitute, Recover, Return'' Recommended Teammates * Psychic- or Fairy-types: Although Kecleon's Normal-type is quick to change, a strong Fighting move is likely to either one-shot or almost kill it even from full health, especially if physical; in addition, the Fighting-type is regularly effective against itself, so Kecleon's Color Change will not give it an edge even after the first hit. A proper Fighting-type counter must be designated; Fairy-types are the best for this role, due to their immunity to Dragon, another type that Kecleon has trouble fighting against due to its ability. Psychic-types can also work well, since they typically get Fairy coverage through Dazzling Gleam. Froslass also has a unique type combination that still fits the bill. ** Good Pokémon that fit this description include, among others: Gardevoir, Alakazam, Azumarill, Grumpig, Altaria, Starmie, Xatu, Froslass * Physical tanks: Kecleon's main problem is its physical Defense which, while not entirely bad, is not enough to take multiple hits in succession. Workarounds are possible through Trick Room and setups, but it is generally wiser to also have a dedicated physical tank for any switch-ins Kecleon may be unable to manage. ** Good Pokémon that fit this description include, among others: Swampert, Pelipper, Azumarill, Swalot, Torkoal, Weezing, Sandslash, Skarmory, Claydol, Donphan, Metagross * Fast hitters: Kecleon is slow. Although Trick Room can turn some matchups upside down, its duration in battle is limited, and should Kecleon need to heal, it will lose the advantage it gained. Fast sweepers are good to have on any team, even more so on a team with Pokémon as slow as Kecleon. ** Good Pokémon that fit this description include, among others: Sceptile, Alakazam, Crobat, Manectric, Starmie Other Kecleon's stats * What Nature do I want? Brave for maximum damage output without any defensive nerfing, though Adamant also works well, even if it will penalise Kecleon in some of the matches in which it would rather have a special move than a physical one. Lonely can work, too, though it will make Kecleon more vulnerable against physical sweepers. * How good is Kecleon in a Nuzlocke? Surprisingly good, especially for the amazing special bulk and good Attack. It fits the "one of a kind" definition really well, having a mixed inclination (physically offensive and specially defensive). Its ability is perhaps its weak point, as it easily loses STAB, but this species is a lot better than its modest appearance may suggest. NOTE: Kecleon will match the type effectivenesses of its new type when its ability is in effect. These refer to standard, Normal-type Kecleon. * Weaknesses: Fighting * Resistances: None * Immunities: Ghost * Neutralities: Normal, Flying, Poison, Ground, Rock, Bug, Steel, Fire, Water, Grass, Electric, Psychic, Ice, Dragon, Dark, Fairy Category:Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire Category:List of Evolutionary Lines with Completed Analyses